The present invention relates to a channel plate assembly comprising parallel plates, which are joined to each other and confine passages for a first fluid medium, each of which passages is continuously defined on all sides in the direction of flow. The invention relates also to a process and fixtures for manufacturing the channel plate assembly. Finally, the invention relates to the use of the channel plate assembly in a plate apparatus.
Problems arise in the supply of flowing fluids to the flow-conducting plates of plate apparatuses, such as plate-type heat exchangers and separators for removing components from flowing mixtures by means of selectively permeable sheet material. It is necessary, on the one hand, to supply the flowing fluids in a distribution which is as uniform as possible to the flow-guiding plates of the plate apparatus. On the other hand, the pressure drop must be minimized, and this will be very difficult particularly if the flow rates of the fluid are high. Published German Application 36 01 909 describes an apparatus for separating individual components from flowing fluid mixtures by means of selectively permeable sheet material (pervaporization, permeation of gas, reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration). That separating apparatus consists of a stack of substantially rectangular platelike elements, which have identical external contours and have been assembled from commercially available flow-guiding plates of plate-type heat exchangers to form a stack and are sealed at their edges and compressed between terminal flow-guiding plates by means of tie rods so that shallow flow-utilizing spaces are provided in the interior of the stack and integrated supply and discharge passages for flowing fluids are provided at the four corners. The flowing fluids are supplied by means of channel plate assemblies, each of which consists of a base plate formed with grooves and a cover plate, which are joined to each other. Each channel plate assembly has the same thickness as the flow-guiding plate. The cover plate has edge strips, which protrude beyond the base plate and are used to fit the channel plate assembly in corresponding supports provided on the flow-guiding plate. The channel plate assembly described in Published German Application 36 01 909 has the disadvantage that fluids flowing at a high rate will suffer a relatively high pressure drop. A plate apparatus in which flowing fluids are supplied through a channel plate assembly as disclosed in Published German Application 36 01 909 cannot be used to effect an adequate removal of individual components from flowing fluids by vapor permeation.